David G. McDonough, Assembly 14th District

David G. McDonough

Republican

BACKGROUND: McDonough, 81, is running for his 10th term on the Republican, Conservative, Independent and Reform party lines. He was first elected in a special election in 2002. He is on multiple committees: education, health, consumer affairs, veterans affairs and transportation, where he is the ranking member. He serves as chairman of the Assembly Task Force on Public Safety, which works with agencies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University and then studied theater at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He served in both the U.S. Coast Guard and the Air Force. He ran his own business in credit collections for more than three decades and also founded a theater company in Merrick. He is a past president of the Merrick Chamber of Commerce and also of the Nassau County Council of Chambers of Commerce. He lives in Merrick and has three children.

ISSUES: Lowering property taxes is a key priority for McDonough, who said that high taxes are driving people out of Long Island and must be addressed. He’d like to see more transparency in government spending and more detailed items in the state budget, so that residents can better understand where their tax dollars are going. Education is another issue that McDonough is focusing on and he was the originator of a bill that would require all schools, not just private schools, to report allegations of child abuse. The bill is now awaiting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature. McDonough opposes using state and federally mandated test performance as a metric to evaluate teacher performance. “We had a terrible problem with the Common Core … we still have to do more for the annual evaluation plan for teachers,” McDonough said. He said that he hopes to continue representing the people of his district and cutting through the “red tape” of bureaucracy to “help them in any way that I can.”